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Topic: [Starkin] Player Request (Read 14374 times)

The year is 3670. Mankind has once again found its destiny made manifest, and begun to spread to the stars, at the price of Mother Earth. In his first steps into the galaxy, war was made upon him, and though Mankind came forth victorious, he has decided to assure that no other may threaten him again. Responding to the calls of the Primarch of Sol, Santiago deJesus, Mankind and the races they created have begun to forge a set of mighty alliances with friendly starfaring races, the Starkin Federation. Together with the Humans now stand the dwarven Salvorathan, men engineered for deep space, the Oraki, the man-machines born of Human genius, the Kel'Regar, bio-wizard aliens reminiscent of the legenendary Elf, the Ssaratha, the slender, winged sauroids, second to none in flight, and others beside.

Beset on all sides by foes, ranging from the abominable Xolev to the crafty Senta, the Starkin Federation has done an admirable job of protecting its people, through both diplomacy and warfare, though it finds itself short-handed on all sides, often leaving its arms in the need of the services of privateers. Freelance fighters, smugglers, rogues, and even researchers, all of these infest the lanes between worlds, where they stand as the first line of defense against spies, pirates, and especially against each other.

In this universe, it is on the border world of Sarinex that you find yourselves, a newly established colony in need of the services of all. Banditry is rampant, and aliens menace from the beyond, while rumors of a Senator pushing for a new doctrine for Humanity run rampant. Into this world, you are thrust, to live or to die by your wits and your blaster.--A note on space travel:

Controlled artificial gravity is effectively unknown in this reality. This means that real-space journeys are generally long coasts of zero gravity punctuated with hard bursts of acceleration. Most spacefarers have learned zero-gravity motion nearly as well as walking, so no special skill will be required to handle simply moving in zero-G. However, combat requires a degree of adaptation, especially melee combat. Combat skills must be purchased twice, albeit at a reduced cost for the second set – The lesser of the two skills, standard or zero-gravity, costs only half of the normal purchase price. For example, to take 'sword – standard : 6' and 'sword – zero G : 4' will cost 8 skill points, rather than 10.

FTL is accomplished via hyperspace, accessed via the Yau-Calabi Fold Engine. This engine translates the six folded spatial dimensions of normal space into six unfolded dimensions, while for the ship, the three spatial dimensions of normal space are folded to a vastly smaller space. For a number of theoretical reasons, this reversal of the dimensions of space is not quite symmetric with real-space. The practical effect is that while the distance between real places is vastly reduced, it is not quite eliminated. Interstellar travel is a matter of hours to weeks, however, rather than the decades and centuries of real space. The Yau-Calabi Fold cannot be maintained within deep gravitational wells – Generally, the Foldship must be a significant distance from any star or planet, but generally not more than a few days travel away from the star.

For reasons of performance, the average star-fighter is not equipped with a Yau-Calabi Fold Drive. They are simply too massive to justify their inclusion. Instead, the majority of militaries deploy carriers, which launch waves of fighter craft. Mercenary and freelance companies frequently work on the same basic principle, although their carriers are typically modified freighter ships, rather than dedicated warships. It is the rare freelancer indeed that has both the contacts and the cash to purchase even a cruiser, let alone a carrier.

It is assumed that all PCs start with a light fighter type craft or a light freighter type craft. Devil is in the details, and variations will be available.--System notes & Characters:

For this game, I am seeking 4-8 initial characters. Players will either start as an assembled wing of freelancers, or get railroaded into being a wing. I promise that there will not be a 'You are all in the tavern' scene. No, things will be much, much worse if I have to railroad yinz into a party.

When characters are created, I require a name and a generic character 'type' for them, as well as a short background to abuse. I mean, write plots about. I will also require stats and skills. Most adjucation of events will occur by the 'Siren has a bunch of d6 and your stats' system, where I will generally roll a number of d6 equal to the appropriate stat or skill rating against a target number. These dice do not add, but rather, each individual success against the target number improves your success. For target numbers of greater than 6. any 6 is rerolled, and the new result added to the first 6. This may continue indefinitely, if you are obscenely lucky.

Human stats range from 1 to 6, with 1 being pathetic, and 6 being unaugmented maximum. Initial skills may likewise range from 1 to 6. If you are interested in a particular race, stat adjustments will be done after assignment – please PM with the race you desire to play. If you wish to create a race for this game, you may do so, with the awareness that I reserve the right to veto, suggest alterations, and otherwise work them into the game world, along with reasonable stat adjustments. I wholly suggest that any such races are fully submitted to the Citadel as entries, too.

Direct Stats are:Strength, Constitution, Quickness, Charisma, Intelligence, Willpower. Each should be self explanatory.Each Character will have a total of 26 points to assign to theses stats, they cannot be zero.

Reaction is the average of Quickness and Intelligence, and determines your initiative in combat.

Skills are basically whatever you can think of. We'll divide them into action and knowledge skills. Action skills are generally those that involve doing something – Shooting, piloting, etc. PCs have 35 points to assign to action skills, and 5x int to spend on knowledge skills. No skill may start above 6.

Each character will also, as the game proceeds, accumulate 'drama dice.' Drama dice exist for the sole purpose of causing heroic actions to succeed. Rather than being available each round or action, drama dice refresh roughly at change of scene, and can only be accessed with an appropriately flamboyant description of action. --Racial Traits

Racial traits are those particular quirks of a race that cannot be expressed well through simple statistics. Generally, they are an evolutionary advantage that has served the race well over the years. However, civilization is such that many of these gifts now lay latent until they are needed. Each PC may select one racial trait to have expressed itself within them. I will hear arguments for traits other than those listed.

Human: Unending Stamina: Built for alternating periods of feast and famine, humans can continue to function at nearly full athletic potential for lengths of time that outright kill many other races, and can do so under conditions that other races would consider starvation. Humans that select this trait can soldier on for days without sleep or food, though he can expect to 'crash' at the end of this period, when the stress is removed from him.

Improvisation: Humans are more capable than most at seeing the non-standard use of items. Humans who select this trait have vastly reduced penalties for using tools in manners that would cause the designer to weep with shock and surprise.

Salvorathan: Suitless: All Salvorathan are resistant to the effects of vacuum. Some, however, take this to extremes, and are able to operate in a vacuum almost indefinitely, given a supply of oxygen. Such Salvorathan are able to survive up to 15 minutes of hard vacuum without a suit or even an air supply, and up to a day given an air supply. This includes maneuvering.

Laser Resistance: While all Salvorathan mitigate the poisonous effects of the radiation that would often flood early deep space vessels, there are a rare few who have the necessary combination of traits to absorb and dissipate more concentrated exposures to radiation. Such Salvorathan gain a bonus to resist the effects of most laser based weaponry.

Kel'Regar: Step of the Stalker: Female Kel'Regar, to the woman, are huntresses. Many are particularly skilled at stalking and tracking their prey. Such huntresses have an instinctive ability to hide themselves from a specific target or small group of targets, gaining significant bonuses to the stealth skill when the location of the party to be hidden from is known.

Dominance:Kel'Regar are naturally attuned to scents and postures that the majority of other races will easily miss, and this quickly combines with their own abilities to regulate their own pheremonal emanations and fine posture control to allow the Kel'Regar significant bonuses to social manipulation of others, so long as they are face to face with the target of such manipulation. This trait has impact over video-link communications, but it is reduced.

Oraki: Machine-Merge: As completely artificial beings, composed such that micro-machines replace the cells of the human body, it is relatively simple for the Oraki to create a secondary set of systems within his or her body for the purpose of supporting specially designed external additions to themselves. Such Oraki have a set of additional parts that they may unite to their body on a temporary basis. These devices typically add mobility to the Oraki's base form – Common modifications include fixed wing flight, rocket thrusters, or hydroplane capacity. Each Oraki may only have one set of such attachments, because of the complexity of the systems.

Rapid Regeneration: Typically, much like a human, an Oraki must wait for body damage to be repaired by the replacement of damaged micro-machines. While this occurs on a faster timescale than for organics, the Oraki must still consume the correct raw materials, build the 'cells', and deliver them to the appropriate location within the body. A few Oraki, however, are able to reorganize the body to a working state, closing injuries nearly instantly, limited only by the minimum number of such micro-machines required to actually compose the flesh in function. These Oraki can self-heal to a limit determined by their body rating with a single round of concentration. The standard regeneration period then must replace such cannibilized micro-machines before the ability can be used again.

Ssaratha: Pilot: Descended distantly from creatures resembling the terran pterosaurus, the Ssaratha retain glider's wings, suitable for short hops much of their complement of feathers, and a superb sense of three dimensional motion. This superior spatial sense translates well to the pilot's cockpit, and those Ssaratha who take this trait gain a consistent bonus to all aerial and space piloting attempts.

Zero-G: These Ssaratha have adapted their motion sense to personal movement in null-gravity. They gain a consistent bonus to maneuvering in Zero-G. --

If the PC wishes to create a race, they may, so long as a full description of the race is submitted as an Lifeform entry to the main site. This description will be used to determine statistics and traits of the race.

I think I've settled roughly on the concept I'll be using. More to come over IM.

Logged

"I grab the sword!""Mmkay, you're dead.""What!?""You just grabbed the sword of the god you were just personally responsible for banishing from the world for the next ten thousand years. You just got zapped by around a billion volts of Angry Divine Power. You're dead."

These skills, unlike 'proficiencies', represent ability beyond the average 'person off the street.' A 1 represents an amateur level of awareness - Previous experience means you are capable of adequate success, and abysmal failure. At a 1, you have about a 50% chance of scoring a single success, and a 1/6 chance of a critical failure. A 6 represents a professional level of awareness - A character is extremely likely to have multiple successes at the action, and has a chance of critical failure so low that it breaks the calculator in my mind. A 12 represents godlike competency in the field.

Only active skills count against the 35 point limit. You may have 5 x Intelligence points of Knowledge skills.

About Zero skills. A zero-skilled character still retains the ability to basic functions with common tasks. Having a zero skill in pilot: Spacecraft does not mean you are totally lost in the cockpit. It means that you rely heavily on the autopilot, and are able to do such things as match orbit, dock, and generally run from point-to-point in a functional manner. You can perform every day life. However, when the crap hits the fan, you are lost, and must make an appropriate default, at large penalty to the target number.

Languages: All PCs are considered to have a native language, and for ease of play, are considered to have picked up enough Gal-Com to be able to speak. Languages count against your Knowledge skills.

Gal-Com is an artificial language based distantly upon a synthesis of Latin and a similiarly ancient Kel'Regar tongue. It is a rigidly defined, grammatically consistent language that has been designed specifically to be easily translated into as many languages as possible.

The following Earth languages are 'alive', in order of native speakers - English, Mandarin, Swahili, French, Spanish, Lojban, Russian, and Korean - The loss of Earth was a tremendous blow to the linguistic variety of Earth. Other languages are remembered, but are primarily 'dead' scholarly works, or in some cases, reconstructions. Salvorathan and Oraki share Earth languages for their native tongue, with Salvorathan preferring English and Russian, while Oraki often prefer Lojban, or speak Gal-Com natively.

The following Kel'Regar languages are alive: Lel'Orth, Lel'Sresh, Lal'Quon, Kel'Ratha, and Oben'ta, as well as a host of smaller tongues. Lel'Orth and Lal'Quon are primarily spoken by males, Lel'Slesh and Kel'Ratha are primarily female tongues. Oben'ta is not a complete language, but a simplified speech that served for many years as a common tongue, holding elements of each of the four major languages, and is mostly used for trade and matters of lust.

Other Humanoids cannot speak the primary Ssarathan languages, lacking the required organs to speak and the range to hear about half the sounds, but can learn to read and write them all in one fell swoop, as they share an ideographic writing system, similar to the dominance of the Han Chinese script in Asia.

Rather than following the AD&D HP / AC model, this game will be using condition meters and damage codes, in the Shadowrun style. Each PC has an effective 10 physical and 10 stun boxes of damage. To resolve an attack, the attack roll is made against a target number, and for each pair of successes on the attack roll, (remember, each point of skill is an additional die, which succeed or fail seperately), the damage is raised by one level. The target may then resist that damage using his constitution. A number of dice equal to constitution is rolled against a target number equal to the power of the weapon minus the armor rating of the target.

Greedo, holding a blaster over the table at Han, is being a royal jerk. Han has managed to slip his hand under the table, and slowly draw his own blaster, which he has a skill of 4 in. Han's player, knowing he's going to get the first shot, decides one shot had better be enough, and so he also throws in all 5 of his drama dice, giving him 9 dice, but he won't have drama dice again for a little bit if he misses. This close, his target number to hit Greedo is a 4 - Greedo's not moving, but Han can't aim by sight. It's a wash. Han rolls, and re rolling sixes, gets 9, 8, 8, 7, 5, 5, 4, 3, 3, 2, for seven successes. His blaster, a pretty typical energy weapon, has a damage code of 10M. Every two successes stages up the damage of his pistol.. So that's 10 M -> 10 S -> 10 D -> 10 D+1. Greedo, unfortunately, isn't very well armored, his synthleathers are a bare point of armor. So, he has to roll his constitution, a mighty 4, against a target number of 9 to resist. He has a couple drama dice, and decides to throw them in too. He manages a 14, 9, 7, 2, 1, 1. It's enough for Greedo to stage from D+1 down to D damage, but, unfortunately, that's all he's got, and Greedo drops in a smoking pile, because Han shot first.

Ammo: Special ammunition types are available for ballistic weapons. Mostly, these modify the effective damage code, usually upwards in power, occasionally in damage. As not piercing the hulls of stations is paramount, the grand majority of ammunition available is frangible low velocity(FLV) - that is, it doesn't go real fast, and it tends to disintegrate on hitting something hard. This means that FLV ammo flattens on even light armor like putty against a brick wall. Accordingly, Armor Piercing, Incendiary, and Explosive rounds are also available. These tend to do better against armor, in different fashions, but they all also tend to do better against walls... And that wall might be the only thing between you, and explosive decompression. Causing atmospheric leakage into space is also generally considered a felony, occasionally a capital one.

Healing: Typical organic beings, with minimal access to medical supplies, heal about a box of physical damage per day, and a box of stun per half-hour, or by a full night's sleep. Shipboard (freighter and larger, with operator) medical facilities can accelerate the process, taking a dying character off his death bed at a rate of 3 boxes per day. Terrestrial medical facilities (read: Hospital) may be able to do even more, even beyond brain-death, assuming that brain damage is minimal to nonexistant. A brain that has been cooked, vaporized, or splattered is dead, Jim. Oraki, with no medical facilities, run off a box of physical damage every half-hour, and may roll constitution at any time to shake off any stun that may have accumulated. Truly killing an Oraki is extremely difficult, however, facilities that may bring them back from the 'dead' are much much rarer than human hospitals.

Alright, folks - Get your gear lists in. Think Star Wars level gear options. No, a Mandalorin battle suit is not available without a REAL slick explanation. I sincerely suggest you look over the '-and a ten foot pole' submission - Cutting the gordian knot is a good thing, and it is rare that I create a 'correct' solution to a puzzle or trap.

Opening post will go up on Sunday, any gear issues can be corrected as we go along.

Appearance:Tall and wiry, at last as far as Kiranti go, Danasheth reaches a healthy 4’7” and weighs all of 74 lbs. Her body predominantly stores iron, copper and gold, giving her turquoise eyes and golden to ruddy hair and markings. She avoids contact with manganese wherever possible, as it is quick to give her hair violet streaks.Whenever it is practical, Danasheth will wear jewelry with floral motifs, most of it gifts from her mates, as well as her mother’s collection, consisting of feather-shaped accessories and ones bearing animal motifs.She clothes herself mostly in the practical bioplastic suit, and also keeps her military uniform in best shape, despite not being a member of it anymore. For social events, she has stashed a few finer, airy dresses, yet finds rarely an occasion to wear them. A military space suit of Kiranti design completes her wardrobe, meticulously taken care of.In this dangerous corner of the galaxy, she’s rarely seen without several pistols; also almost a part of her, a portable toolkit holds fine tools and software for hands-on electronic jobs.

History:Born in a rather pristine area of Venria, Danasheth was an active child, the eldest of four siblings. Surprisingly independent for one of her race, she set out to Joivee, the nearest metropolis, to study, or, according to her mother, play ball – she was a recognized player of the university Haasna team (a game suspiciously resembling basketball in its primary aspects) – mostly known for her unpredictability; simply, she managed to avoid shedding her emotions in the heat of the game.

Much to the surprise of her peers she did not have a stable partner group until she enrolled in the military at the start of the Hylar V mining wars; she spent three earth-standard years in space shooting aliens to bits, as a fighter pilot and reaching the rank of lieutenant, even, due to her skill with pistols, surviving the boarding of the Star Streak, the carrier she was stationed on, before the conflict subsided.

In the military, she met her first stable mate, Sheria, and stayed with her until the day she fled Venria – but back to that later.Jumping at a chance to leave blasting people behind, she transferred to the diplomatic corps, or, rather, the espionage service (it’s impossible to distinguish those two with the Kiranti), where she met two more of her mates, Calis and Seheth.

Several yeas in the diplomatic circles flew by like the wind, with Danasheth taking to communication with the alien species especially well, and likewise being like a fish in the water when stealing their secrets.Actually, playing the sneak and the conniver was one of Danashet’s loves, the other two being sports and flying.Thus, it took a Sisyphean amount of persuasion from her mates before she allowed herself to conceive and stay planetside, giving birth to twins, Salune and Viniee.

While she felt somewhat caged, Danasheth took a place at an engineering company, still working for the diplomatic corps on the side, and even managed to ascend a leading position in one of the company departments; later, she even became a member of a state grant committee.A fateful day, the board was presented a promising project about prosthetic and enhancing cybernetics, yet it declined. What drove Danasheth to go against the board’s wishes and secretly assign the project a substantial funding, she will not tell.Two years later, her connection to the missing funds was discovered; she refused to tell where the money went, and was believed to have simply embezzled it. Content with spending some time at a corrective institution, she was hit hard by the fact that her mates believed her to be guilty and even denied her contact to her offspring, Danasheth ran from judgment and left Venria…

…ending up on a mercenary ship in a chaotic region of space some time later.

Equipment:

Cybernetics:*fighter craft interface system with built-in retinal projectors (integrated HUD), made for her fighter, may be somewhat outdated for newer models.*retinal camera, ear recorder, hard drive space.*several small tools (screwdriver, borer, file, probe, tiny 1” blade) built into her lower right hand.*clearance chip, lower right palm. Most, most likely all, codes will be outdated.

Born on a Venus outpost, Connor was doomed from the start. Not because of the situation surrounding his birth; the fact that his mother was a prostitute and his father was unknown…it just seemed Venus just decided to reject the idea of him being there. His mother died when he was 9 years old. He spent most of the rest of his formative years begging, stealing, and anything else survival required. By his 15th year he had learned a great deal about star craft, even learning to fly one quite adeptly. This was crucial; he soon began a low orbit “delivery” company. This would only lead to greater things, along with honing his negotiating skills. By the time he reached 19 he owned his own small but well kept fighter craft (equipped with not too few discreet storage areas) and was off to see the stars….and get away from Venus for good…

Description :

Connor is an average sized man, lithe of build. The scars covering his upper back, arms and face tell the story of his unfortunate childhood. He keeps his dark auburn hair nearly to his waist, and always tied back. His eyes are a dark emerald green, and betray his outward harshness. He dresses in muted earth tones in a casual fashion, however the variety of weapon holsters, utility belts, and the antique sword he wears still manage to make him somewhat noticeable.

Appearance:Standing close to 6' tall and weighing enough to make durasteel floorpanels creak, Kestral is an intimitating figure, expecially when outfitted for battle. Shining, lazer-reflective armor, combined with paired cut-off autoshotguns make him a fearsome visage indeed.

Outside of a mission, he still wears reinforced fullerene fatigues of deep navy in color. His skin is stark white which he regularly paints with odd tribal patterns as the mood strikes him.

He head is crowned by close-cropped, matte black in color. His eyes are variable in color to suit his mood and can be caused to emit light (not enough for illumination, but enough to be disturbing..)

History:Kestrel is the son of Harmony 012.7 and Onyx 018.5, both scientists back on Sanctuary. He never was interested in the persuit of knowlege - it dicipline and tedium abhorant to the young Kestrel. Instead he seeks to make his name though the arts of war, and has hired himself out to the highest bidder. As time progressed, he has started to realize that even the path of the warrior requires much dicipline and contains a fair share of tedium. Garden worlds such as preferred by humans are alien to him - all he has known are the insides of ships and his cold homeworld.

Racial Trait - Device Interface If it has electronics, Mach can interface with them by touch, 'injecting' nanites into the device. He can only influence the electronic parts however, and must remain in contact with the nanites injected into the device to perform active actions.e.g. He can jam an electronic lock simply by interfacing with it for a moment, but cracking into a computer would require continual contact until things were finished.

Equipment~Basic civilian clothing~Engineer's Vest - Pockets for holding crap. LOTS of pockets for holding crap.~Multitool [Engineer's version] - "(Almost) Everything you need for any repair job!"~Comm unit - Useful for communication, both in atmo and out. Headset based, for hands-free operation.~Farscope(tm) goggles - Useful for both looking far away and really up close. Capable of interfacing with a ship's computer, with a built in HUD.~Vac-Suit - For spacewalks. Even Oraki need an atmosphere. Comes with extra heat-venting capacity. Designed for Oraki.~Grapple tool - Shoots a triple-braided flex-steel line strong enough to support a medium sized Oraki under 1.3 Earth gravities. Removable tips allow for both grappling hooks and magnetic latches, whichever is more usable.~Can of liquid O2~Binary adhesive~Velcro tabs (even this far in the future, with no gravity, they make the perfect tool)~Enough food paste to feed a Mongol horde of Oraki for a week~1lb of 'backup' nanites, suitable for injection in case of emergency damage~Med-kit with a small dose of emergency nanites~Raw materials of all kinds, both for Oraki repair, and other mechanical tasks

Ship - Avian-class light transport A small refurbished transport, it barely sneaks above the minimum size for a Yau-Calabi Fold Engine. That said, the ship certainly doesn't have one installed, and Mach is too poor currently to afford one. It has a cockpit with space for three (packed in like sardines), a cabin that is little more than a closet, and the cargo hold which eats up fully 3/5 of the total ship space. The remaining 1/5 is reserved for core systems. There is barely any space for weaponry, and the single pair of aging turrets show it. There is a third hardpoint, but as of yet it remains unfilled.

Appearance Ash-grey mixed with cobalt blue gives Mach interesting skin patterns, a gift from his 'parents'. His hair doesn't have the streaks, however, and stays a rather calm grey, a few shades lighter than his skin. He's not built like a tank (relatively speaking), but like all Oraki, Mach is no pushover, weighing in at just over 635 kilos. He stands at 1.6 meters.

History 'Born' 235.1 years after the founding of Sanctuary, Mach was always interested in machines. This was very much compounded by his natural capability for electronic interfacing: if it had electronics, he could interface with them. Obvious sabotage implimentations aside, Mach's talent and inclination for machines made him a natural engineer.

Like the other Oraki sent to the stars from Sanctuary, Mach 0235.1 has a specific purpose: the improvement of interspecies relationships. His approach to it is that if nothing else, the race as a whole can be extremely helpful as engineers of some sort or another. His personal goals are a bit more...out there. He enjoys human history, as well as reading actual dead-trees-paper books, and especially loves the thrill of interfacing with a new piece of equipment. A new piece of technology sitting around is likely to drive him insane until he can interface with it.

Human computer scientist. Penchant for robotics and AI. Used to be well respected university professor with a long list of publications. Wanderbug bit late in life (160 terran years old currently, has been traveling for around 20 years). In fact, he started traveling after the death of his wife, a tragic accident, in which he was not only grievously wounded, but also turned pacifist. Unable to cope with constant reminders of his old life (or his consultancy position in several defense firms), he decided to try his fortune amongst the stars. His nickname Alice either stems from his love of old English literature (He will gladly bore you to death with his endless notes on the various surviving Shakespeare plays and sonnets. and knows Alice's Adventures in Wonderland almost by heart.) Then again, the name Alice could also come from the development during old earth of the early AIs (A.L.I.C.E) or from his interest in cryptography (Alice, bob, carol, etc...).

After leaving his old life behind, he bought an old freighter from a distant cousin, and made it into his home.

He is a committed pacifist and a ruthless practical joker. Indeed, his engineering genius has oft been put to the mercy of his child-like jokes rather than on serious problems. When a situation turns grave, however, he is a dependable man, who will fix what needs to be fixed, and often a hell of a lot more, while never mixing his priorities.

AppearanceUnremarkable, Alice is often dressed in a simple jumpsuite with a tee shirt. Sometimes, an equipment belt is worn, but rarely does he wear anything fancy. His face shows some signs of age (think mid-50s), and his short, well groomed hair is a vibrant steel grey. Below a tall forehead, green eyes look out with a non-negligible intensity. His right hand, in stark contrast to his left, has smooth, hairless skin, and most will notice the grey shadows beyond, telltales of an artificial limb. Physically normal, he is nevertheless in good shape, maintained by his constant work on the Benjamin Franklin, and has long lost the typical professor's contented belly in favor of a leaner, more muscular body.

Cybernetics:Alice's cybernetics implants came in three phases, each related to a particular event of his life:

Phase 1:Academic ImplantsDuring the course of his academic career, Barnaby had the chance of working at the prestigious Advanced Studies Institute (ASI) on Gallantine VII. During his time here, he had major cranial implants fitted, mostly to allow him to carry out the complex mathematics and programming required by his research without the slow and bulky interface console. These consist of a development workstation equivalent, miniaturised, and linked to his frontal cortex as well as his ocular nerves. Effectively, this is a complete computer with a graphical HUD overlay. Programmable in the same way as a normal computer, (including uploading new applications, software, or files), as well as having large amount of storage for reference use. The ocular connection is two way, allowing visual recording too, and the left ear has also been wired for enhanced sound recording, although only in the existing human range of audition.

The entire system can also act as a portable Virtual Reality rig (visual and sound only). This has come in handy a couple of times for directing drones remotely to do maintenance in restricted places on Old Ben, such as outside.

In term of connectivity, the ASI would only pay for a wired connection, but Alice forked out the necessary cash in order to have a wireless interface put in. The antenna allows two way digital transmission on a wide variety of frequency, software modulated for greater flexibility. It runs down his spinal column, and can easily be felt if a finger is passed over it. Because the large bandwidth wireless connection is far more convenient, Alice practically never uses the heavy duty jack behind his left ear.

The wireless antenna can easily broadcast on common comm-link frequencies for short range communication, and even connect to the wireless GalCom network, when available.

Phase 2:The accidentLoosing his wife was one of the most tragic and tremendous event in Barnaby's life. He was severely injured in the blast which caused the death of his wife (It was a terrorist attack against the ASI. They culprits later claimed that they attacked because of the affiliation of the ASI with several large defense contractor). Loosing His right arm, right leg, and most of his chest after a heavy beam fell on him. In recovery, he opted for the cybernetic option, rather than having the entire left side of his body bioengineered. This probably talked to the Engineer in him, who knew that this would offer great flexibility. Besides a standard artificial musculature and titanium-tungsten foam skeleton, he had no "functional" augmentation, besides a slightly stronger skeleton and considerably firmer handshake. Most of the left side is covered in his own, bioengineered skin, cloned from samples taken in the ER room. This has no functional characteristics.

Phase 3:Old BenLife on the road has its own demand, and Alice soon began to modify his own body to help him in his daily tasks. First in was a complete engineering multitool attachment in his right forearm. This includes all the usual, (from screwdriver to mini plasma torch). A heavy duty electronic toolset is also present in his right palm, allowing him to interact with all sorts of electronics devices. This comes in really handy when reprogramming robots, since he doesn't have to get to a specialist workstation to download the program, he can do it "on the go", so to speak.

Another interesting addition are the two "flesh pockets" on his body. These are artificial skin pockets that zip up and resemble nothing more than a scar when closed. One is present on his right pectoral slightly to the side, nearly under the armpit, and another one on his right thigh. These are empty most of the time, (except for a print photo of his wife in the chest pocket) since holding something in them is less than comfortable, but in the rougher spaceports, Alice often Keeps a small amount of cash in them.

Ship: The Benjamin FranklinFrom the outside "Ol'Ben" Looks more like space salvage than a functional ship. Several centuries old, the rusting hulk of the Benjamin Franklin is nonetheless perfectly spaceworthy, and during the last decades, heavily modified by Alice. Until, as he says, it "Just feels like home.".

Old Ben's history is quite remarkable. Firstly used by a faceless corporation as part of its fleet, it was then decommissioned after almost two centuries of service, only to find its way into the hands of a minor rebel group, who fitted it as am armored gunship. Soon, however, the rebel group was completely neutralized, and the ship found itself heading for the orbital furnaces. However, the furnace's operator took a liking to the old ship, and decided to simply decommission the weapons, and keep the ship for himself, fitting it with ample personal quarters. Passed onto his son at his death, who fitted the ship with a bigger powerplant to support the heavy machinery from the furnaceworks and again to the son's daughter, who, as a botanist, fitted the ship with a small growing room and again to the daughter's daughter, who was none other than Alice's second cousin, and fitted the ship with a small infirmary tooled with an autosurgeon. Unfortunately, the engines were never changed, and the extra armor added by the rebels considerably slows Old Ben down, so the ship crawls at a snail's pace. And to be honest, Alice likes it this way.

In term of Weapon the ship is actually unarmed, and the two hardpoints that the rebels had installed have been used as drone launch platform. (Alice has been known to create small mining drones from spare parts in his workshop and mine asteroids, but only when strapped for cash.

Because of its age and archaic technology, Alice was able to get the large freighter for very little, and found himself with a large cargo bay, at the cost of an abysmal speed. Due to the size of the ship, however, it could easily be fitted with Yau Calabi engines, and even, with a little effort, a small docking bay for a couple of fighters. Currently, half of the cargo space is used for a large workshop (Alice likes to tinker. A lot.) and, since Old Ben is also Alice's home, his personal quarters. Alice's pride and joy is the large (one reclining chair fits in. Barely.) paper library, which has helped him numerous times relax during the atrociously long voyages. The other half of the cargo bay (3 isotainers) is most often filled with some low value trading commodity, so that Alice can support his mostly frugal lifestyle (He is almost self sufficient in Old Ben) and keep his workshop fitted by buying and selling between different spaceports.

The Ship's AI was programmed by Alice himself. Without a question, it is a significant step above common ship AIs, being more akin to a semisentient than a computer. Her name is Maia, and she enjoys hyperdymensional chess.

Alice being careful, the ship has been fitted with modern smart countermeasures and radar decoys (home build, of course), because you never know what might happen. Another unusual feature is the inclusion of large, retractable solar panels. (there is an interesting story behind those, if you wish to ask...)

Equipment:

Portable AES surface scannerThis old and battered material scanner is still perfectly functional, allows for detailed surface analysis of most materials, and has been invaluable in several deals which could have gone sour had the quality of the cargo not been checked before purchase. Otherwise, generally useful surface material scanner.

Battered and patched up EVA suitNearly as old as Old Ben, the suit is stored and kept either in case of emergency, or to carry out external repairs on the freighter.

Complete, multi environment survival kit, One backpack and one holdallThis particular piece of gear carries a very bad memory to Alice, having learnt the hard way that when one is forced to make planetfall due to faulty engines, one must be prepared for anything! Indeed, Barnaby spent two years on a deserted planet before being rescued, and has vowed never to be again caught unprepared for such eventuality. It also carries the only weapons onboard the Benjamin franklin, in the form of a flare gun and a small hand pistol. It was after this episode that the Benjamin Franklin was fitted with solar panels.

Virgin (unprogrammed) MicroprocessorsOne of the few things that cannot be improvised, Barnaby keeps a large stock of microprocessors, carefully packed in one of the storage cupboard of his workshop, and, after a couple of very rare books, these are the most expensive things onboard the Benjamin Franklin. (modern equivalent: a few dozen PICs and half a dozen CPUs)

Well equipped infirmaryOnboard the B.F. A small room is fitted as an infirmary. besides all the usual supplies, one can find a dated, although perfectly functional autosurgeon, which can carry out simple surgical procedures without a doctor's help. (the AI has been tweaked by Alice, so Beware). However, all the supplies and the droid programming is optimised for humans.

Well worn Sabacc DeckAlice is quite an apt player of this game, and will always take it out when docking to a station, hoping to find a fellow player.

Loader droneApproximately 1.5m in height, and 2.6 meters in length, this small drone was build to serve as a dock-hand to load and unload Old Ben. It has a choice of propulsion, between repulsor field, or a set of six insectoid legs. The arms end in standard locking pitons, fitting most cargo containers. (although the arms could easily be replaced by something else.) While the ship is in transit, this robot has a niche outside on the hull, where it uses its locking pitons to keep hold. Alice is rather fond of this robot, because it was once used to repel a band of thieves who where trying to steal the cargo.

Two Inflatable deep space survival podKept on his person at all times these fist sized devices can at first be mistaken for handgrenades.

The small spheroid is activated by breaking the safety tab and then pulling the activation cord. The sphere expands outward upon contact with air, forming a semi-flexible, translucent spheroid equipped with a layer of ablative cushioning designed to provide shielding against micrometeorites, and insulation against the chill of the void of space. It is large enough for a single Medium-sized individual to crawl into, then to close and seal the opening. If the life pod is activated in an environment without sufficient oxygen, the integral atmosphere canister will suffice to form and inflate the pod. Otherwise, the canister provides approximately one hour of fresh oxygen to the occupant, through a breathing hose. A chemical-based heater is also included, with enough fuel to keep the occupant warm (if not very comfortable) for at least an hour.

When the life pod is activated, a small emergency beacon is activated, with a power supply that will keep operating for up to three hours. If the occupant uses the chemical heater more sparingly, and has additional atmosphere canisters, it is theoretically possible to survive in the life pod for several hours, but micrometeors will tend to tear apart the fragile life pod after periods much longer than that.

(source:http://sinai.critter.net/starwars/gear/survival.htm#lifepod)

Hand-held holoprojector.This rather uncommon device is kept on Barnaby's person all the time (It was an anniversary gift from his wife). It can project a small 3D hologram no larger than 20cm^3. With a standard interface, Alice can connect to it wirelessly to demonstrate concepts through diagrams. A favored teaching aid of his professor days.

Various materialsThe Benjamin Franklin's workshop is well stocked with various engineering supplies, allowing Alice to build small robots when the need arises. They are often remotely controlled by Maia rather than programmed.

« Last Edit: January 17, 2008, 11:38:02 AM by dark_dragon »

Logged

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."-Philip K. Dick

APPEARANCE Erik is a sturdily-built Salvorathan, with skin somewhere between interstellar black and deep violet, with a height of four feet six inches, with a thick build of a similar width to his height - which is to say, a typical Salvorathan, at first glance. The absolute hairlessness, right down to a lack of eyebrows, is perhaps a bit more space-adapted than a normal Salvorathan... Typically, he dresses in a plainly-made ballistic cloth jumpsuit, covered with pockets carrying his various tools and sundries. Aboard his ship, the jumpsuit is belted tighter at the waist and he goes around bare-chested, the better to make use of his maneuvering ability as a Salvorathan. Whenever possible, he carries his monocrys knife - strapped at his belt aboard ship, and to the outside of a leg elsewhere.

HISTORY Erik Starvoid grew up expecting a fairly typical life for a member of his Clan; a small-sized Clan operating on the more border edges of space, alternating between prospecting belts and small moons and running contraband around the frontier worlds, not suspecting that they were gathering some fairly significant ill will from the organized criminals and pirates whose profits were being reduced. So it was that not long after Erik reached a sufficient age to be allowed to pursue the job he'd been trained for - engineer for a Clan vessel, tasked with ensuring the systems were functional and the hull pressurized - that the Clan was set upon by a combined fleet of thugs, scum, and pirates in the gravity well of an old white dwarf the Clan had set up mining operations in. The fight, despite the superior numbers of the enemy, wasn't the easy battle the combined fleet had been expecting. The Starvoid Clan had not prospered in 'wilderspace' by neglecting the posting of guards, and while there was insufficient time to gather the Clan up to escape once the hostiles were spotted, the hostile fleet found itself facing an entire Clan of Salvorathan fully prepared to finish any fight started. Unfortunately, while the fight ended, it ended with the Starvoid Clan smashed, as well as a good four-fifths of the pirates either outright wrecked or damaged to the point of uselessness. Those pirates who survived looted the best that they could amid the wreckage and fled, certain that any survivors of the Clan would perish in the aftermath, with all their vessels ruined and adrift in an uninhabited system. Salvorathans, of course, tend to be less willing to perish in space than Puregenes do. Erik was among the few survivors, as much due to his ability to handle hard vacuum better even than most others of his kind as by any dint of skill. Hauling himself amid the wreckage, carrying a limited supply of air with him, he surveyed the field of battle with an incredible sense of dismay and loss. Nearly every ship in the clan was wrecked beyond recovery, and the additional masses of bent and broken wreckage from the pirate fleet only adding to the sense of despair. Of the entire Clan, a mere three survived; the other two emerging from their limited shelter after scavenging functional suits, not being quite as hardy as their Clanmate. Together, the three set about repairing what they could of two of the Clan's light freighters, repairing damaged bulkheads with scrap scavenged from other wrecks, hotwiring and jury-rigging computer systems, and in Erik's case carefully repairing the damage to the freighters' power and hyperdrives, scavenging among the Clan's ships and the wreckage of the pirate fleet to ensure the systems would work at as close to full capability as possible. Repressurizing only the most vital parts of each ship, the three proceeded to load the wreckage, scavenging the most valuable of the remaining goods before making a notation for the location of the battlefield in their astrogation systems, hauling out to jump range, and leaping for the nearest system they could think of as friendly. There, they sold off the salvage, using the proceeds to more properly repair the vessels, and made more jumps to salvage the battlefield; the second time out, they got one of the Clan's fighters operational, letting one of them patrol and serve to manipulate the larger pieces of debris a little more easily. Eventually slavaging the entire field - and getting more than a few strange looks from the repeated trips - the three sat down finally to decide what to do with the remaining fragments of the Starvoid Clan. In the end, the other two - one male and one female - decided to take one of the freighters and begin to refound the Clan; Erik, still a member of the Clan, chose to do side work, the better to ensure an influx of cash to both maintain the ships and help restore the Clan. Smuggling still being profitable - and less likely to be readily noticed as a single smuggler than an entire Clan cutting the profits of the criminal groups of the region - it was quickly his first target, along with gas-mining in otherwise uninteresting systems. Neither, however, was quite as profitable as the occasional offers to serve as a carrier for small groups of fighters in and out of areas, and so it was that he found himself gravitating into ever more lawless and hazardous regions of space, tweaking and adjusting the freighter as time and funding permitted to drag more power out of the drives and more durability out of the armor. And so, having finished delivering a few would-be glory hounds to a certain frontier world, he happens to be looking for more paying work... Because while gas-mining pays the bills, it's bloody well boring.

General Gear-Flashlight (normal, diffusion, and UV modes)-Multifunction tool (leatherman/swiss army knife equivalent)-short-term breather/oxygen-recycler pack-canteen with purifier filter-Spring-grapnel baton-PADD unit; contains encyclopedic information on physics, astrogation, and electronics; access to networks as permitted; can record written and voice logs-Long-range communicator-Assorted minor parts for repairs (including zip ties, probes, wirecutters, small tools not included in the multi, like a scalpel, and insulated gloves, the latter generally being stuffed conspicuously in a pocket someplace)-Electrical kit w/ small soldiering iron (added to above)-canteen with a large red X on the side, containing a stiff whiskey.-Compact utensil kit (stashed in quarters)-Compact personal medkit (bandages, minor medicines, needle/syringe, dermabond)-Emergency flares (one or two small ones stashed in pockets, more scattered in the pressurized portions of the ship in case of power or lighting failure)-Grease pencil (2-3, different colors, for marking things shipboard)-Emergency food rations (protein/vitamin concentrate bar; one generally stored on-person, others cached in low-rad areas of the ship; has been described as tasting suspiciously like aged rat)

Ship-Salvorathan-base 'Frankenfreighter', designation SV2-002, name 'Karloff'; passenger areas and some of the cargo space is 'safe' in terms of radiation, as are the sensitive areas with the computer equipment. Everything else is a bloody radiation bath - something the Salvorathan finds 'cozy'. Note: the rotating crew/passenger carousel that normally provides shipboard gravity is solidly jammed, and being adapted to microgravity Erik hasn't bothered to repair it.-Autopilot, salvaged, responds to 'Boris'; vocoder program designed to resemble Boris Karloff's voice as the Frankenstein Monster, courtesy of one of Erik's remaining Clanmates.-2 Rail Turrets (7M Ship)-2 Light Plasma turrets (10M Ship, range issue)-BFRT-Slab'o'plas-steel armor

Logged

"I grab the sword!""Mmkay, you're dead.""What!?""You just grabbed the sword of the god you were just personally responsible for banishing from the world for the next ten thousand years. You just got zapped by around a billion volts of Angry Divine Power. You're dead."